Of Kismet and Complexes
by maddcap
Summary: Set a little after Alice’s transformation in the 1920s: though she hasn’t met him yet, Alice knows that she is destined to meet the mysterious man from her visions. She also knows that when she does, her life will never be the same.


Summary: Set a little after Alice's transformation in the 1920s. Though she hasn't met him yet, Alice knows that she is destined to meet the mysterious man in her visions. She also knows that when she does, her life will never be the same.

Prologue

Alice watched curiously from the safety of the shadows as a young woman flitted and fluttered around the dimly light smoke filled room a playful smile lingering on her lips. The woman's movements were exaggerated and over thought as she made her way to the man starring dazedly at her across the room. The closer she got, however, the more hesitant she seemed and her confidence was all but forgotten as a blush spread across her cheeks when the man leaned close to whisper something in her ear. The same blush deepened when he took her hand in his own, stroking the ring there, possessively.

If you asked Alice, it was all just confusing. Not just the look in the man's eyes as he regarded the woman-- though, the emotion itself was an enigma enough for Alice to decipher. No, it was more of the fact that not an hour ago, she had seen this very same scene unfold in her mind. Though this wasn't the first time Alice had visions like this she still couldn't get used to them. Most were so fleeting that she couldn't even get a handle on what she was seeing. Some so vivid if was hard to tell the difference between illusion and reality. Never the less, the majority of her visions were a tedious business to get involved with. So far with no way to control them from coming at unexpected moments and leaving her breathless, they may either only work to fool her or, like this one, send her reeling from a very real case of déjà vu.

Her first vision must have been an omen for all this confusion. Although it never showed Alice herself being confused, that was all it caused. It was just a very vague image of a man who, though he was not clear, was obviously very handsome. Despite it being her first vision the image seemed to haunt her and through all the many visions she has seen this is the only one that has ever repeated itself. It was as if the man himself was taunting her, just daring her, to forget his face. It gave Alice a strange sense of foreboding when she thought of him. Somehow she knew that, whoever he was, he was going to affect her life in a very big way, be it good or bad.

Right this moment was not the time to ponder this however because, Alice was struggling just to keep herself in control. She was thirsty. Incredibly and unquenchably thirsty. But even so, lately she had been having the hardest time doing anything about it. In fact, there had been several occasions where she had chosen a meal but she just couldn't bring herself to follow through. Not because she couldn't-- no, Alice was very adept at doing precisely what was necessary to get what she wanted. The problem was more of the fact that she knew she shouldn't and therefore wouldn't.

Now here Alice was, silently stalking the couple out into the abandoned streets and watching as the man left after kissing the woman on the cheek and mumbling something about bringing the car around. The thirst was all but blinding. Alice could not for the life of her figure out why she hadn't pounced on the woman the moment the man had his back to her. Yet here she was faced with the same problem from before. _The image of the same man kneeling over the dead woman's body with tears streaking down a face twisted with anguish. Another image of an older woman who would no longer eat because the death of her only child was just too huge a blow to stomach._ And on and on it went. Image after image came of the people it would affect if Alice chose to follow through, bombarded her mind like canons hitting a fortress wall and shaking her very frame of being.

The woman stands swaying from foot to foot, pulling her shrug around her. It will only take a few minutes for the man to return with the car, but it would take even less for Alice to do her business and make a clean get away. Torn in two, Alice didn't move from her spot in the shaded alleyway. Rocking back and forth on her heals as she considered her options. Forward; _it was just one inconsequential human. _Back; _she was important to others_. Forward; _the pain, the thirst could end._ Back; _only at the cost of another life._ Forward;_ screw their lives, what about mine! _And so it would go until either she made up her mind or fate would intervene.

Needless to say, Alice had a lot on her mind.

((AN- I'm planning on doing the story completely in alice's point of view. The story might be a tad bit darker then you are used to with Alice concidering that she does have a dark past. I'm playing this by ear so we'll see how this turns out together, eh?


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